le Tour is le AWESOME!!!!

I want to tell you about the beautiful small town of Chaumont which was just a pass through on the way on their 211k route, and how it had this really neat viaduct that we walked out on.

I want to tell you about the perfect spot Jennifer suggested, and how brilliant she is for thinking about we should see them on an uphill because they would be going slower! Genius!

I want to share with you how funny and entertaining the caravan parade of sponsor floats were prior to the tour. They threw out all sorts of free stuff, from hats to water bottles to newspapers!

I want to convey to you how cool it was to see the lead breakaway 7 riders that actually stayed away from the main field for the whole race. They were really pumping it out and working hard as they flew by!

AND I really want to try and communicate to you what it felt like when the main field (peleton) of more than 100 riders came barreling up that hill. They were so powerful and CLOSE, that we felt ourselves pulling back so that they could get by– it was as if we could touch them, except for the fact that the energy and wind and force they came through with actually pushed us back……it was so wonderfully impressive and amazing…..

I’d love to tell you about the way our Garmin took us through the Vosges Mountains, and how we got on this one lane road, passed a farmers sheep pen and then finally made the turn back onto the course to see all the people camping out on top of the mountain. I can’t imagine climbing these mountains- much less coming down without killing myself! These are not men…I thought as we climbed up, up, up…..

And I want to tell you about our views of the wine fields, and how magnificent the scenery was as we pulled into Colmar for the night, and how we struggled to find parking, and then rode our bikes back to the hotel…all before we had dinner (at 10) with a banana split for desert- outside…..oooooohhhhhh the strawberry ice cream was to die for!!!!